Protesters gathered outside Walmart's home office in Bentonville on Friday.

The protest began after a federal labor board said it would pursue charges against the company because they said Walmart violated the rights of employees to protest.

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Thousands of workers across the nation are expected to continue the protest until Black Friday.

The former workers said Walmart wrongfully terminated their employment.

"It's not about me. It's about the whole world. We are the living poor, and there's no reason for it," protester Barbara Collins said.

Collins is just one of many former Walmart employees who stood outside in the cold at Walmart's headquarters to push for a change. They said after participating in prior protests they noticed a change at work before being released.

"The question that you have about (being) unlawfully let go, again, there are still questions about the facts around that, and that will be administered in front of an administered law judge," Walmart representative Cory Lundberg said.

A Walmart representative said not all the charges brought to the National Labor Relations Board by former workers were proven to be wrongful dismissals. The company said it's standing by those terminations.

The NLRB said it's been in talks with Walmart about a possible settlement that would require the company to rehire some of the workers who were terminated.

A former employee said they should be able to protest without intimidation if they're rehired.

"Everything that we're doing well, we have the right to speak out, and Walmart doesn't like it," Collins said.

A Walmart representative said the company is waiting on the NLRB to finish reviewing the workers' complaints before they decide whether to reinstate some of them.

Officials with the NLRB said if a settlement isn't agreed on within the next two weeks, the case will go to trial.